Crop Damage From Flooding Considered Disastrous

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- In South Miami-Dade, some crops remained underwater 11 days after the beginning of what may be remembered as the great flood.

Corn farmer John Alger, who stood in a water-filled farm for an interview a week ago, assessed his losses Monday.

"Right now we are at about 15% dead on arrival," he said of his thousand acres of corn. The losses could be much greater however depending on how the damaged portions of his crops bring back. "Quality is up in the air," Alger said.

At a crisis meeting of farmers, Florida's Agriculture Commissioner, Miami-Dade's mayor and other officials, uncertainty abounded among those, like tomato grower Lynn Chaffin.

"There was a great deal of damage but we really can't put it all in perspective, because every day the plants look worse and worse that survived," Chaffin said.

Crop losses are expected to total into the millions.

You will feel the pain.

"Consumers are going to see a spike in prices," said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. "It looks like commodities have virtually doubled since the flooding event," Putnam said.

For owners and workers, the deluge comes at a particularly bad time.

"Obviously it's the holiday season and you have folks losing their livelihood. And you have a lot of folks out of work," said Charles LaPradd of the Miami-Dade Agriculture Office.

Fingers of blame were being pointed today at South Florida water managers.

"Whoever is in charge of the floodgates or flood control or whatever, they just need to get on the ball," said Sal Finocchiaro of S&L Beans. "They need to get the water down ahead of time," said the grower who lost 100 percent of his squash.

A spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District told CBS4 News that water draw down efforts began 24 hours before the heavy rains came.

CBS4 Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer and others, however, were forecasting the beginning of a prolonged downpour that began on December 3rd.

The SFWMD's website makes no mention of increased flood control measures beginning until December 4th.

The agriculture Commissioner was critical of water management, as well, at the crisis meeting on Monday. He says he will ask the United States Department of Agriculture to declare a disaster in Miami-Dade, opening the region up to federal assistance.